Rock n’ Ripoffs: When Video Games Ripped Off Classic Rock

So you're sitting there, playing your favorite video game and the music's really cool. Just a great tune. You're humming along and then suddenly...it hits you. You've heard this song before, but not from the game. You've heard it somewhere else. Maybe a movie? The radio? But WHERE?!

Well, the good news is you're not going insane. You probably have heard some of these video game tunes elsewhere as it turns out the composers for some of the most popular games ever made were big fans of classic rock. Just how big a fan? Check out our list and you'll see for yourself. The similarities may shock you.

Mega Man - Elec Man Stage

The first Mega Man is one of the all-time classics on the original Nintendo Entertainment System. There was nothing else quite like it when it came out, especially the music. Each stage had its own unique, hummable tune that did a great job encapsulating the feel of the environment. Well, it seems that composer Manami Matsume was such a big fan of Journey that she crafted the theme for Elec Man's stage pretty closely to the melody of Journey's power ballad Faithfully.

Here's Journey's song:

And here's the theme from Mega Man:

Street Fighter II - Ken's Stage

Street Fighter II took arcades (and later home consoles like the Super NES and Sega Genesis) by storm. There was nothing else quite like it, with a diverse cast of international fighters doing crazy moves like throwing fireballs and stretching their limbs. The music did a great job of personifying the attitudes of each individual fighter and their country of origin. Among the most memorable of these themes is for Ken Masters, the American-born, Japanese-trained combatant who fights on a shipyard dock. It's a blazing tune with ripping guitar riffs, but we're gonna guess that composer Yoko Shimomura was a pretty big fan of the Top Gun soundtrack as this one sounds eerily close to one of Cheap Trick's hit songs.

Cheap Trick - Mighty Wings

Street Fighter II - Ken's Stage

DOOM - E1M1

Doom became a cultural phenomenon almost immediately. It was wildly popular with gamers and, like any really awesome piece of entertainment, became the target of choice for groups who wanted to blame violence and tragedy and moral decay on anything other than personal responsibility. That said, it was obvious that the programmers at id Software were huge fans of heavy metal through and through, especially if you listen to the music. The opening, chugging guitar riffs as you find yourself on a military base on Mars are everything a great intro stage theme should be, but...wait...isn't that a Metallica riff?

Metallica - No Remorse

Doom - E1M1

Dr. Mario - Fever

Mario isn't just a plumber. He's a golfer, a kart racer, a boxing referee and even a doctor. And Hirozaku Tanaka didn't just compose the music for Dr. Mario, the puzzle game on the original Nintendo, he was probably a fan of The Beatles (though, really, who isn't). So much so that he pretty closely modeled the main theme of the game on The Beatles' Lady Madonna.

The Beatles - Lady Madonna

Dr. Mario - Fever

Mega Man X3 - Neon Tiger Stage

Depending on how long you've been playing video games (or depending on when you stopped playing new ones) this one may be a bit more obscure. Well, the game and it's tune might be, but the song it's based on is probably a little more familiar. Kinuyo Yamashit was the composer for this soundtrack, and clearly she's a fan of Axl Rose and Slash.